Grilled Pizza Lessons

We tried some new things this last camping trip. First thing we did was buy a charcoal chimney starter. They are environmentally friendly and save money because you do not need to use lighter fluid. We heard how great they worked, but we were still a bit skeptical. No need to be, though. That puppy heated up the coals so well! They were extremely hot and perfect for cooking.

So the lessons learned in making grilled pizza is:

1. Don't use the nasty retro recipe from Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library. Really, Bisquick and catsup (ketchup), YUCK. I listened to Jenn at Frugal Upstate's suggestions (in my comments on the Tuna Salad Mix-ins Post) on bread dough, but then decided to buy the Pillsbury Pizza Dough in a can.
2. When using really hot coals, it's important to protect your dough. The above recipe called for 5 inches from the coals, well our little grill didn't give us that room. So my crust was blackened. By the time we got to Dana's and the kids crusts, we were getting slightly better results. Next time we will use foil to protect the dough while we precook the crust.
3. This is an amazingly yummy and fast camp food. Best part is that we each got to put what we want on our pizza. So Dana had lots of meat and cheese. Kaia had lots of meat and cheese with some mushrooms. Mo had a bit of everything but the mushrooms. I had light pepperoni and light cheeze with lots of mushrooms.

Thanks to Jenn for the suggestion, as I was considering the grilled pizzas, but wasn't sure due to the icky recipe I had. Also visit her site for this week's Frugal Food: Beans! I hope to get a post up, but no guarantees with how busy I am this week.